New Sounds Festival 2025
Join us for this special, festival lecture on the ground-breaking music and enduring legacy of Galina Ustvolskaya, presented by renowned musicologist Dr Daniel Elphick. As part of the New Sounds Festival 2025 at Royal Holloway, this talk will explore Ustvolskaya’s fiercely original compositions, her defiance of Soviet artistic constraints, and her profound influence on contemporary music.
Abstract:
Galina Ustvolskaya (1919-2006) was a free-thinker amid the cultural uniformity of the Soviet Union. Her music is characterised by bold homophonic blocks that clash and collide, alternating an assault on the senses with a juxtaposed stillness. Ustvolskaya rarely ever talked about her music, and even more rarely approved it for performance – she only sanctioned 21 pieces during her entire life. Despite such isolation, Ustvolskaya's music has developed a cult following, and is now particularly well-respected by a generation of young composers in the years after her death. This lecture provides an overview of Ustvolskaya's musical language and points to her lasting influence on contemporary practices.
This event will take place in EWD 1-04 (Event space), and is presented as part of the New Sounds Festival 2025.
Car parking
When you arrive for a College event at our Egham campus, please park in car parks 12 or 4.
Car park 12 can be accessed by turning right as you enter the main College gates and is located next to the tennis courts. If this car park is full, please drive further onto our campus to car park 4, which can be accessed by turning left at the mini-roundabout behind the Students’ Union. We would advise that you bring the College map to campus with you and give yourself plenty of time to park.
Blue Badge holders can find designated parking spaces in Car park 1W, as well as between Gardeners Lodge and the Williams Annexe. You can find these locations by looking at our campus map opposite. If you require any assistance on arrival, please contact our premises team in advance of your visit by emailing: premisesadmin@royalholloway.ac.uk and they will be happy to help.
Please note that we operate an Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system on certain parts of our campus, however if you are here for an organised event, parking is unrestricted for event guests in car parks 12, 4 or 14 (or display your blue badge permit if parking in a disabled bay). If you have any questions about parking, please email: premisesadmin@royalholloway.ac.uk
Further information
No booking required
